


How (not) to break a warlock out of the dungeon

by recklessDreamer



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Dungeon, M/M, Magic Reveal, Merlin is so done, Protective Arthur, Protective Knights, Tiny bit of Angst, but they mean well, the knights being idiots
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-15
Updated: 2020-09-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:48:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26483674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/recklessDreamer/pseuds/recklessDreamer
Summary: When Merlin gets thrown into the dungeon because of his magic he expects some quiet, lonely hours until Arthur is back from a visit to the lower town.He is not ready, however, for several (ridiculous) breakout attempts by various knights that may or may not go as planned.And what will Arthur say when he comes back?
Relationships: Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Comments: 70
Kudos: 975





	How (not) to break a warlock out of the dungeon

Merlin had always imagined that, when he finally revealed his magic, it would be in an epic and heroic way.  
Arthur would be in danger, fighting yet another evil sorcerer or a dangerous creature that wanted to kill the king. Merlin would swipe in dramatically and save the king, revealing his magic in the process.  
As a result, Arthur would be so relieved and happy to see Merlin, he would forgive him instantly for lying and throw himself into Merlin arms before they would make out fiercely and…. yeah well, at that point, Merlin's imagination got a bit unrealistic. 

Fact was that Merlin did definitely not expect his magic to be revealed while he was simply playing with one of the castle cats.  
Admittedly, it was a rather cute cat and Merlin was really bored. 

Camelot had been suspiciously quiet in the last months. No assassination attacks on Arthur, no curses laid upon the kingdom and even the king himself had managed to not get in trouble for some time. Merlin should be grateful for the break but instead he grew restless. Where were the evil guys when you needed them? 

The lack of work and excitement was the reason why he was currently sitting in the green grass of the castle gardens, playing with a little, gray kitten that he had named ‘little Arthur’ because it’s huge eyes reminded him of Arthur whenever the king wanted something from Merlin.  
However, the absence of threat and danger led to Merlin, letting his guard down and he didn’t think much of it, when he summoned a small, orange ball of light. He let the light dance around himself and Little Arthur happily chased after it.

It was only when a hand came down on his shoulder that Merlin let the light disappear but it was too late.  
The two knights behind him had seen his eyes flash golden. They dragged Merlin to his feet, not even bothered by little Arthur who meowed desperately when they took Merlin with them.  
The knights were new in Camelot and Merlin wasn’t yet acquainted with them. He thought about fighting but chose to be led into the throne room instead.

Arthur though, could not be found, he still was visiting the lower town so the knights decided to throw Merlin into the dungeon until the king returned.  
Merlin wasn’t sure whether he should be glad or not that Arthur did not know yet. Even though the confrontation was unavoidable, he did not feel ready to face his king.

Merlin was already well acquainted with the dungeon cell the two knights shoved him in.  
After all, it was the very same cell in which he had spent his first night in Camelot. It was almost ironic that he might spend his last night in here as well.

With a sigh he let himself sink down onto the dirty straw. 

He only got to count the stones of the wall opposite from him three times, when a dull thump, coming from the cell next to his caught Merlin’s attention.  
Next, he heard a quiet hiss, followed by a series of creative curses.  
Merlin furrowed his brows. The other cell should be empty.  
It took only a couple more seconds before a smiling face appeared behind the bars of Merlin's cell. 

"Gwaine, what the hell are you doing here?" Merlin hissed. 

It was clear that the knight had not come through the official entrance but rather through the tiny window in the other cell. How Gwaine had managed to break the bars of the window Merlin did not know. 

Gwaine ran one hand through his hair, rearranging his disheveled locks.  
"I'm here to save you, of course." Gwaine proudly pushed out his chest. "I'm your knight in shining armour." 

Merlin was - mildly put - not impressed. "You are literally still wearing your night clothes. Which are definitely not shining. More smelling of mead." 

Gwaine just shrugged. "Details, Merlin. Point is, I'm getting you out of here." 

Merlin didn't even bother to get up. "Let me guess, you don't have the key to this cell? " 

This caused Gwaine to halt and scowl at the lock. "A key. Right. Maybe if I used my sword…" 

As it turned out, Gwain had also forgotten his sword.  
Merlin sighed again. "Look, Gwaine. This is really nice of you, but I don't even want to be-" He got disrupted by a terrible smell that made him gag. 

"What is that?!" 

The answer came some moments later in the form of Lancelot. The knight, clad fully in armour, shot a sideways glance to Gwaine before turning to Merlin.  
"I came as soon as I heard what happened." His tone was urgent. 

"Well," Gwaine drawled, "You weren't fast enough. I'm actually the one who is saving Merlin."

"But I thought about bringing the cell keys." Lancelot was dangling a pair of keys in his fingers. 

"Oh, I could have opened the cells without a key." 

"Really? Because to me it looks more like you are still drunk, you can't even stand properly." 

"Guys!" Merlin interrupted the fighting knights, "What is this smell?"

At that, Lancelot smiled apologetically. "Do you remember the stink bombs we dropped in Arthur's room?" 

Merlin nodded and the memory of Arthur's face that day still brought a smile on his face. 

"Well," Lancelot explained, "I still had one of those and dropped it in front of the dungeons. When the guard came looking where the smell comes from I could slip in." 

Lancelot then proceeded to open the cell door. 

Merlin still wasn't happy with the situation.  
"Lancelot, Gwaine, I know that you are great friends and I am so happy that you don't care about me having magic, but-" 

A muffled cry followed by a dull thud interrupted Merlin.  
Shortly after, there was the sound of heavy footsteps coming towards the cell. Merlin already feared that soldiers or even Arthur himself were coming for him but then Gwaine started to laugh.  
When the two newcomers finally got into Merlin's sight, even he had to smile a bit.  
In front of the cell were Percival and Elyan.  
Dressed in women's clothes.  
While Elyan wore a pink but simple dress as well as an immensely embarrassed look, Percival looked as if someone had squeezed him into some tight, dull sack.  
There was a red scarf around his head, hiding most of his features, but Merlin could still see the angry glare, dedicated to everyone who would dare to make fun of him.  
They looked ridiculous. 

Gwaine was laughing so hard, tears spilled out of his eyes. 

"What is this?" Lancelot asked, who was the only one who managed to stay serious. 

Percival glared at Lancelot. "We are here to save Merlin. What else should we do in the dungeons in freaking women's clothes?!" 

"Oh, I know a thing or two about what you could be doing." Gwaine offered, apparently able to speak again. Percival’s scowl deepened. 

Elyan hastily started to explain. "When we heard that Merlin was imprisoned it was clear to us that we can't let anything happen to him,"

Merlin had not expected this. It hadn't really surprised him that Gwaine and Lancelot wanted to free him - Lancelot already knew about Merlin's magic and Gwaine had always been weirdly loyal towards Merlin - but Elyan and Percival? Sure, they were his friends but Merlin never thought that they would commit treason for him. 

"We thought that if we dressed up as maids and said that we would clean the dungeons the guards would let us through."  
Elyan looked even more uncomfortable, now that he realized how stupid the plan actually sounded. 

"It did not work," he then added unnecessarily, "We had to knock them out." 

Contrary to Gwaine, Merlin managed to keep his face straight this time. "It's the intention that counts, isn't it?" Merlin tried to smile supportive and Elyan nodded in relief. 

Elyan and Percival joined the others in the cell that got more and more crowded. 

“Now that we settled that,” Lancelot said, who regularly shot sideway glances towards the cell exit as if he dreaded the executioner to walk in every minute, “may I propose that we get the hell out of here?”

They all looked down at Merlin, who was still seated on the floor against the stone wall. Merlin hesitated. “Well, the thing is-” 

He got saved by an incredibly loud detonation. Then, the wall next to Merlin crumbled. Little stone particles flew through the cell and Merlin covered his head to protect himself from the falling rocks. When the dust seemed to settle, Merlin dared to open his eyes only to see a man climb through the new hole in the wall.

“Did you just blow up the dungeons, Leon?!” Percival was the first one to speak while the others still looked at Leon, mouth agape. 

“It was louder than expected.” Leon admitted and offered a shy smile.

“Awesome!” Gwaine said.

Merlin’s heart was still beating a little too fast from the shock of the detonation.  
Stink bombs, women’s dresses and now a full-on explosion. What would come next?

“I am here to break out Merlin,” Leon said, “but what are you all doing here? Shouldn’t you be on the training grounds?” Leon wore his usual I’m-the-king’s-first-knight-and-you-really-should-behave-face, however, his strict appearance suffered from the fact that his hair stuck out in all directions as well as his tunic that seemed to be fuming slightly. 

“Seems like nobody here wants to see our favourite servant and tormenter of Arthur dead.” Gwaine shrugged. “Though I must admit, Leon, your entrance has been by far the most dramatic. Do you have any more of those bombs?” Gwaine tried to sound innocent, but he couldn’t hide his vicious planning-smile.  
Merlin pinched the bridge of his nose. How would he ever get out of this? And why couldn’t he just spend some quiet hours alone in the dungeons?

“Nice outfit, by the way” Leon said, his gaze levelled on Percival. 

Percival pointed a threatening finger at Leon. “One word more...” He left his threat unspoken but Leon hurriedly closed his mouth. Gwaine did not. 

“We wouldn’t dare say anything to make fun of you, my Lady.” 

Percival took Gwaine by the hem of his tunic. “I give you my Lady!”

Lancelot chimed in. “Guys, please, I’m just here to save Merlin. Not to stop you from killing each other.”

“What does that mean, you are here to save Merlin, I got to him first.”

“But Percival and I definitely sacrificed the most to help Merlin.”

“But I’m the first to know about his magic. I’ve helped him far longer than all of you did.”

“Shut up, Lancelot. When Merlin wanted to get some advice on his hairstyle he came to me and not to you. I’m definitely his best friend.”

“You are still fucking drunk.”

“It does not befit a woman to talk like this.”

“I’ll strangle you with my dress…”

Merlin decided that, now, he finally had enough. He scrambled to his feet. 

"Guys!!!" 

His shout silenced the knights. They all looked at Merlin, expectantly.

"Guys, I really appreciate you all being here, seriously. I never thought that… that so many of you really trust me. I mean, I'm just a servant.."  
Merlin took in a deep breath. "And even if the execution of some of your plans had been… questionable, I'm so glad that you are here." 

The knights all smiled proudly. 

"However, I'm a warlock." Merlin emphasized the last word but the knights still looked at him inquiringly.  
"Yes, Merlin. We know. That's why you're here. And we are all right with it." Gwaine said cautiously. 

Merlin sighed. "No. That's not what I meant. I'm a warlock which means that I literally could have escaped this cell within seconds while you all were just fighting." 

Now the knights seemed to catch on. Percival was the one who asked the question everybody was thinking of. "Why are you still in here then?" 

Again, Merlin glanced into each of their faces only to find actual concern in their expressions. 

"I don't want to run away," he started to explain, "I know that magic is illegal and that this might mean my death, but Camelot is my home." 

It was true, Merlin realized, as he said it out loud. Camelot was his home and it didn't matter how often he had to live in fear of being caught. He would never run away. 

"And Arthur," he continued, "Arthur is my best friend." 

At this, Gwain huffed and muttered, "Best friend… Riiiiiight…." 

Merlin chose to ignore him. "Arthur is not like his father. He cares about people. And I hope… maybe he even cares about me a little bit," Merlin heard the fear in his own voice at those words.  
"Arthur will make the right decision and if this decision will be to burn me, so be it. He might be a clotpole sometimes but I trust him. He's kind and smart and I know that he will be the greatest king Camelot has ever seen and-" 

A creaking sound interrupted Merlin's speech. A trapdoor right in front of the servant’s feet opened and a head poked through the opening. 

"Arthur!" Merlin said, startled. The king looked up at Merlin. His hair was in complete disarray and his face was covered in dust. 

"Merlin." Arthur's tone sounded as if it was perfectly normal for a king to appear through a secret trapdoor right into a dungeon cell and startle his poor servant to death. 

"Seems like the 'greatest king Camelot has ever seen' finally arrived as well." Leon commented drily. 

Arthur's head whipped around, spotting the knights, crowded in the cell.  
"What are you all doing here?!" 

Only then did he drink in their appearances. Percival and Elyan in dresses, Gwaine obviously drunk and in his night clothes. Leon covered in parts of the wall and Lancelot in full armour.  
"I'm not sure whether I really want to know the answer or not and just put you all in the stocks." 

Merlin was still trying to process what exactly was happening right now, but Gwaine smirked down at the king. "Rich, coming from a guy whose head is sticking out of a hole in the floor." 

Arthur glared at Gwaine angrily and hauled himself up into the cell. 

"We were just… ahm… offering poor Merlin here some company," Elyan tried to explain, "It can be awfully lonely down here." 

Arthur did not buy the explanation. 

Lancelot took a step forward. "I'm sorry, my king, but I will be perfectly honest with you," Arthur raised an eyebrow, but he gestured Lancelot to continue, "We all are in here to break Merlin out. As knights we are completely loyal to you and your throne but we don't think that Merlin deserves to be executed."  
The rest of the knights nodded in agreement. 

Only Gwaine spoke up. "Now, princess, the more important question is, what are you doing here?" 

Arthur frowned at Gwaine but there was a slight blush creeping up his cheeks.  
"What kind of stupid question is this? I'm the king and this is my castle. I can be wherever I want to be." 

Gwaine slowly crossed his arms, eyes still pinned on Arthur. 

The king wavered. "Maybe I was checking the secret passages?" he offered weakly. 

Gwaine tapped his food on the ground.  
Arthur threw his hands in the air in exasperation. "Alright. I'm here to break Merlin out as well." 

Arthur's words hit Merlin fully in surprise. Arthur wanted to save Merlin?  
"You, what?" Merlin managed to choke out through his shock. 

Arthur turned towards Merlin and ran a hand through his hair, the gesture seeming almost as if Arthur was unsure about his next words.  
"Two of the newer knights just informed me that you have been spotted using magic and that it is expected from me to sentence you to death. I couldn't… I came here immediately to get you out." 

Merlin felt his hands shake slightly, "But why?" 

Arthur looked at Merlin as if he had just announced to take a troll as wife (which, looking at Camelot’s history, wasn’t entirely improbable).  
"You don't think I could ever watch you die, Merlin. You're my best friend." 

The words seemed to warm Merlin up from within. Arthur actually was all right with Merlin's magic?

"I know that you aren't evil. You can't even walk five steps straight without tumbling over your own feet. How could I ever believe an idiot like you to be evil?" Yeah, well, Arthur was still a prat but Merlin forgave him for that. 

"I'm sorry that I didn't tell you about my magic. But I only ever used it for you, Arthur. Only for you." 

Merlin felt his voice shaking. 

Arthur smiled softly at him. "I know, Merlin." 

A discreet cough came from behind Arthur and Merlin realized again that they were not alone in here. 

"This is all quite nice," Percival said, "But why did you come through the secret door, Arthur? You're the king, you could have just released him." 

Arthur's shoulders seemed to slump down a little. "I know, but the knights that arrested Merlin, they were so sure that I would sentence him to death. They wanted it. And magic is still outlawed. I thought that, if I went against my own laws, my knights and the people wouldn't believe in me anymore. Magic has been Camelot's enemy for so long. I don't think they trust me when I suddenly change my mind about it." 

Merlin's heart ached when he heard the insecurity and the self doubt in Arthur's voice. He felt the sudden urge to hug Arthur and tell him how great a king he was. 

Leon, however, was faster. The knight put one hand on Arthur’s shoulder.  
"You are my king, Arthur, and I will always follow you. The people love you and they trust your decisions. And so do I. If you choose to lift the ban on magic and release Merlin then I will stand with you, as will many of your people. I believe in you, Arthur." 

Lancelot took a step towards Arthur, letting a hand rest on his sword. "So do I. It's an honor to follow you." 

Percival nodded in agreement. "We will get through this together." 

Gwaine rolled his eyes but he uncrossed his arms, "Yeah, count me in, princess." 

"We will always stand by your side, Arthur." Elyan said and Merlin was suddenly immensely proud of all of them.  
And even though Arthur would never admit it, Merlin saw that the king's eyes were slightly moist as well. 

But then, all eyes suddenly were on Merlin.

"Oh come on, guys," Merlin said. "As if I ever left Arthur's side."  
And he added, just for good measures, "I still think you are a clotpole." 

"Shut up, Merlin." 

But there was a wide grin on Arthur's face. "Thank you. All of you. For believing in me. I'm glad to have you by my side." Arthur sounded sincere. "However, you still look ridiculous right now." 

Gwaine was the first to turn towards the cell doors. "After that unhealthy amount of feelings I'm in dire need of a drink." 

The knights exited the cell but when Arthur made an attempt to follow them, Merlin stopped him. "Can I talk to you?" 

They waited until the knights all disappeared in the corridor behind the cell.  
"I just wanted to thank you again," Merlin said, "for trusting me and, you know, trying to save me even though I definitely don't need saving." 

Arthur smiled so fondly at Merlin that his heart made a little, happy jump. 

"I would always come for you, Merlin." 

Merlin couldn't help himself. He wrapped his arms tightly around Arthur and after a moment the king hugged him back. They stayed like this for some time, neither of them ready to let the other go. 

"The knights are in the next cell, listening in on us, aren't they?" Arthur eventually whispered in Merlin's ear. 

Merlin sighed. "Yes, they definitely are." 

Suddenly an idea struck his mind. "Where does the trapdoor lead?" 

He felt Arthur’s smile against his neck. "It leads into the forest. And I actually know this really pretty clearing that is very close to the end of the tunnel." 

There it was again. The warm feeling in Merlin's stomach. "Let's go." 

As quietly as possible they scrambled to the trapdoor and entered the tunnel beneath the dungeons, not once letting go of each other's hands. 

\------------

"It's suspiciously quiet." Gwaine whispered while pressing his ear against the stone wall that  
separated the knights from the cell that Merlin and Arthur still were in. 

"I bet they're kissing." Elyan said, who was leaning next to Gwaine. 

Gwaine frowned. "If they were full-on making out, it definitely should be louder in there. Believe me, I'm an expert when it comes to things like this." 

Lancelot rolled his eyes. "We really should go." 

Begrudgingly, Gwaine let go of the wall and strode to the cell doors where he tried to open the door. 

"Who has the keys?" he asked when he found the door locked. The knights looked at each other, all shaking their heads. 

"I think I let the keys stuck in the other lock." Lancelot admitted.

Leon sighed loudly enough that Arthur and Merlin must have heard him, even if they were snogging passionately. 

There still were no sounds coming from the other cell. Gwaine started to hammer against the wall. 

"Merlin! A little help in here, please." 

No answer. 

"Merlin. Arthur. That's not funny. We are stuck in here." 

Still no answer. 

"They snuck out through the trapdoor." Leon realized. 

Gwaine swore. Great. 

"Any plans for how to break out of this bloody dungeon?"


End file.
